Eastern May Get Route To London

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation, reversing an earlier decision, will probably award Eastern Airlines the potentially lucrative route from Miami to London, officials said Thursday.

Jeffrey Shane, deputy assistant secretary for policy and international affairs, overturned an earlier ruling by Administrative Law Judge John Vittone that awarded the route to World Airways of Oakland, Calif.

The administrative law judge had concluded that World's fare proposal was superior to Eastern's. But Shane's review concluded that the judge, who works for the department, should have excluded premium fares in his calculations.

Shane said that without the premium fares taken into consideration, World would charge $311 for a Miami-to-London ticket compared with Eastern's $338, as opposed to a $102 difference when the premium fares were included.

Shane said although World still had a $27 edge when it came to fares, other considerations, such as Eastern's more numerous connecting flights, outweighed that advantage.

The route once belonged to Miami-based Air Florida, but it was taken away when that carrier filed for bankruptcy.